Wolfwalkers - Irish folklore, myths, wolves and movies

"Wolfwalkers tells the story of 11-year-old Robyn Goodfellow, a young apprentice hunter who comes to Ireland with her father to wipe out the last pack of wolves. Her life changes though after she saves a native girl, Mebh, which leads to her discovery of the Wolfwalkers and transforms her into the very thing her father is tasked to destroy."

This beautiful new movie comes to us from Tomm Moore, who also brought us the amazing 'Secret of Kells' and 'Song of The Sea' - which is one of my all time favourite movies.

His visual style is noticeable straight away in this concept trailer and definitely connects it to his two previous films. 

The hand-drawn look of the movie is very important, as different techniques have been used to express different moods and to show the difference between characters. For example, army members are drawn in a woodblock style, while the wolfwalkers and animals and drawn in a freer, more expressive way.

“When we see the world from the point of view the wolves, it’s animated in charcoal with a very limited palette and color only where there are scents. In contrast to the block print style in Kilkenny we have a much looser look to the forest — lots of ink splats and loose watercolors and scribbly pencil lines.”

The animation takes inspiration from traditional block print artwork and is set in Ireland in the 1600's during the civil war. This was a time when religion was fierce and wolves were seen as demonic - leading to lots of folklore and myths surrounding them.

Wolves feature prominantly in lots of Irish folklore, so it's nice to see them coming to our screens now too.
One traditional Celtic tale tells of a group of people who have been cursed to turn into wolves every seven years, and must wait seven more before turning back into humans again. There are many more wolf transformation stories related to Irish folklore and myth too.

This movie is full of Irish folklore and history and is set in the same area as the base of the animation house creating it; keeping it very local and authentic!

If you absolutely loved 'Song of The Sea' (like I did), then this is definately one to watch out for!

And if you haven't seen Tomm Moore's other movies yet (WHY NOT?!), then be sure to check them out before this future gem comes out!
They're magical, steeped in folklore and myth, and completely beautful too!